The outbreak of Covid 19 decreased in 2022; however the country is shivering due to the outbreak of dengue fever. The number of dengue patients died this year is the largest in the history of the country.

A total of 281 people died during this period till Thursday. 62,256 people have been admitted to various hospitals in different parts of the country after infected by dengue. After Dhaka, the maximum number of dengue patients died in Cox’s Bazar.

In the previous years, maximum number of dengue-victim used to find in the capital. However, the dengue outbreak spread over other districts, too. Even, a huge number of patients who were referred to Dhaka for better treatment created huge pressure on the hospitals here.

The physicians were worried that the percentage of death in dengue was higher than the percentage of people becoming infected with it. To tackle this situation, the Directorate of Health has updated treatment guidelines for managing patients, along with creating pocket guidelines including necessary information for the doctors.

Providing future guideline to prevent dengue, Professor Emeritus, medicine specialist Dr ABM Abdullah told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “We have to give importance to destroy the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes. These deadly mosquitoes breed and grow up in clear water. To prevent the loss of life, the city corporations and municipalities have to work the entire year, not only in specific season. Besides, the city-dwellers also have to be aware as the waste-waters of the houses are one of the sources of Aedes breeding.”

Basically, the period from July to September is regarded as the season of dengue outbreak, but at present, the dengue infections are seen all the year round. Hence, many citizens questioned the seasonal mosquito-killing programs. In this regard, Dr Kabirul Bashar, the entomologist of Jahangirnagar University told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “According to government estimation, this year saw the highest number of death in dengue as well as the second highest number of patients admitted in hospitals with it. Dengue and its carrier mosquitoes were spread in 64 districts in the country. The season of Dengue was also changed which was not like the previous one. As it’s not the seasonal disease anymore, so dengue control system should be implemented all the year round.”

He said, “In order to solve dengue problem, scientific apllication of combined mosquitoes management should be implemented according to the advices of the entomologists of the country. The pesticides are needed to check before using it. In addition, cleaning the breeding fields of the mosquitoes and using Gappi fish to control mosquito breed could be useful tool.”

@The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on December 30 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque